Lavrov: Ceasefire Creates Hope for Heavy Arms Pullout in Ukraine

During a joint press conference with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the achieved ceasefire would hopefully allow the pullout of heavy arms.

MOSCOW, December 9 (Sputnik) – The current “silence regime” in Ukraine was “well-planned” and Moscow hopes it will be observed,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

“We discussed the tasks of settling the Ukrainian crisis in detail, and we have tied hope to the fact that a ceasefire was announced today. This is not the first announcement, but this current level was well-planned, and talks were held between representatives of the opposing sides,” Lavrov said during a joint press conference with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders in Moscow.

#Lavrov holds press conference after meeting #Reynders. LIVE NOW: http://t.co/ECygddMV7V in English. pic.twitter.com/eJpq6USJfR

— Ruptly (@Ruptly) 9 декабря 2014

The Russian foreign minister added that upon the request of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian army officers have helped establish the ceasefire, and expressed hope that "the division line agreed upon will allow for the so-called silence regime to actually be implemented and the pullout of heavy arms will begin from both sides of this line.”

Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced his decision to introduce a silence regime along the line of contact between Kiev forces and independence supporters in the South-East of the country starting December 9.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine escalated in April, when Kiev launched a military operation against the region’s independence supporters. The conflicting sides agreed on a ceasefire at the September 5 meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine and drew up a memorandum specifying the implementation of the ceasefire on September 19. Both sides have subsequently accused each other of breaking the truce.